1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a mold including a segmented adjustable diameter compression ring and a tapered compression ring support and to a method for molding high strength, non-metallic fiber reinforced composite parts having a variety of different shapes to be substituted for heavier metal parts.
2. Background Art
Parts such as fasteners, connectors, couplers, and the like, have long been manufactured from metal. Such metal parts have been used in aircraft and similar applications because of their high strength characteristics. However, these same metal parts are known to be relatively heavy. Consequently, in cases where a very large number of metal parts are used, the overall weight of the aircraft will be increased with the result that the performance (e.g., fuel consumption and speed) of the aircraft may be adversely affected.
To overcome this problem, designers have been making the same parts from non-metallic fiber reinforced material. In this case, an injection molding process is commonly used to manufacture relatively lightweight parts that are reinforced with short milled fibers. Nevertheless, it has been found that such short milled fiber reinforced parts lack the tensile and shear strength that is required to withstand extreme physical forces that are typically encountered by aircraft traveling at high speeds and high altitudes. Conventional injection molding techniques are not applicable to making non-metallic parts that are reinforced with long and continuous fibers which would advantageously increase the ultimate strength of the final parts.